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leading by example
A purposeful life
Vice-Chancellor - Dr Saleem Badat
investing in young people
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Championing the cause of service learning
Mandy Hlengwa
Engaging through an unlikely discipline
Martin Villet
Getting the chemistry right
Connecting with the global village
Standing in the gap
Doing science for real
Helping young people make the headlines
Developing muscles, minds and
leadership
Building a nation of readers
Partnering with rural teachers
Supporting children in their early years
Creating a home for all
promoting health and well-being
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Learning to live and eat well
Playing the beautiful game
Making meaning of medicine together
Pouring life into communities
Growing the common ground
Rediscovering our roots
sharing rights and responsibilities
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contents
Creating opportunities for all
Taking the law to the people
Focusing on ability
Making voices heard
Working for justice

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The young and the old, men and women - all have the agency to
transform the new South Africa into a vibrant, empowering and
caring society.
On the meaning of
true engagement
01
South Africa's young democracy offers
immense opportunities to individuals and
communities to make significant
contributions to the empowerment,
development and growth of citizens,
society and country. The young and the
old, men and women - all have the agency
to transform the new South Africa into a
vibrant, empowering and caring society.
Like other universities, Rhodes University
is serious about embracing this challenge
and has elevated community engagement
to stand alongside the University's other
core purposes of teaching, learning and
research. However, to think of
community engagement separately to
teaching and research would be missing
the point. Community engagement
initiatives at Rhodes are going beyond the
traditional 'good deed' approach to
occupy a more critical and strategic role
of enhancing scholarship, development,
social cohesion and social transformation.
Many of the University's Faculties and
Departments have understood the value
of engaging communities as a vehicle to
enriching and enhancing teaching and
research that has mutually beneficial
results. New spaces have been created
in the community where learning is
happening, and knowledge is being
produced and applied, reworked and
made ready for practice. Unexpected
new 'teachers' have emerged through
these initiatives in the community - people
sharing their knowledge and expertise
and facilitating an understanding of
difference and other ways of approaching
life.
Pedro Tabensky, well-known Rhodes
Philosophy professor , once commented
that we need to foster the idea that a
university experience is a privilege, not a
degree factory that produces graduates
with the sole purpose of accessing
resources and goods from the 'upper
crust' of society. He went on to ask, "If
the University's responsibility is to
generate and disseminate knowledge,
how do we ensure that the knowledge
acquired by students is contributing to
the broader society?"
In every society there are people who
make things happen, who take risks, who
see the bigger picture of cultivating
humanity and actively shaping new ways
of being. In this publication, we
acknowledge and share some of the
stories of our Rhodes citizens that we
think reflect such a spirit. May their work
serve to inspire us all.
Diana Hornby
Director: Community Engagement

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Leading by
example
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Page 7

"Leaders," Badat recently told a group of
student volunteers, "never forget or look
away or 'get used to' our social structures
and relations, which underpin the coexistence
of the unbridled accumulation
of wealth and desperate and grinding
poverty; great privileges for a small
minority of rich and huge deprivation for
a large majority of poor; unbound
economic and social opportunities for
some and the denial of such opportunities
for many others."
Indeed, in a world where 'bling' is
increasingly revered, Badat overtly
eschews what he terms the "culture of
greed and crass materialism".
So, if it's not about the money, what
does motivate this no-frills man who
works an average 80-hour week, walks to
his many engagements and meetings,
owns a run-of-the-mill car, flies economy
class and stays at inexpensive accommodation
when his work takes him abroad?
In 2006 when he assumed the mantle of
VC, he startled a jaded South Africa by
rejecting his large salary and donating a
large portion of it and many of his perks
to the establishment of a scholarship fund
named after his mentor Jakes Gerwel.
Most of his top management approved
and slowly adopted his practices - a culture
Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor Dr Saleem Badat embodies a "humility
and spirit of service in public life that is growing all too rare," seasoned
journalist Ferial Haffajee said some years ago. It remains true today.
Adrienne Carlisle spoke to Dr Badat about his leadership, his inspiration,
and his passion for community engagement.
A purposeful
life
of frugality now prevails. "Imagine how
much money we are saving by not flying
business class and by not staying in fivestar
hotels."
Several of his top management staff now
also donates a portion of their salaries or
benefits to plump up the bursary fund.
To date, Dr Badat alone has donated over
R1.5m to the fund which benefits
disadvantaged students who would
otherwise not have been able to afford a
university education.
Badat's passion for community
engagement started with his involvement
in the anti-apartheid struggle. "That's
where my most formative learning
happened. There I learnt about democracy
and how important it is to participate even
if you are illiterate. That's where I learnt
how to take complex theoretical issues
confronting South Africa and, through
the prism of what was happening in other
societies around the world, was able to
share that with workers, students and
others. And through that I became,
immeasurably, a far better teacher."
While South Africa now has its democracy,
the struggle is far from over. South Africa
is one of the most unequal societies in
the world in terms of wealth, income,
opportunities and living conditions. Badat
finds the levels of inequality and income
and opportunity differentials in South
Africa and globally "deeply troubling" and
it is here that he is determined to make
a difference.
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service
humanity
to
He says most of Rhodes staff, especially
its top researchers, lecturers and scientists,
are not driven by money. "They are driven
by a love of and passion for science, for
research and producing new knowledge."
And the 80 hours a week he puts in? "The
hard work I am prepared to put in is
because I believe in a certain kind of
project and a certain kind of institution,"
he says.
He wants Rhodes to be an institution that
produces graduates that are concerned
about people, social equity and justice.
"The function of the University is not just
to produce graduates to satisfy
throughput rates - but rather to produce
a particular kind of graduate," he says.
With Dr Badat at the helm, Rhodes has
become a university steeped in the idea
of community engagement - which Badat
believes goes a long way towards creating
the type of student Rhodes would be
proud of. Through community
engagement students don't just acquire
compassion and creativity but also
knowledge, competencies and expertise
not available in any lecture hall or
laboratory.
Along with research and teaching,
community engagement has become a
05
core purpose at the University, with
additional staff and funding. But Badat is
adamant that community engagement
can only become the third leg of a
university if there is excellence in the
university's primary roles of teaching and
research.
"It is on the basis of teaching and research
that we connect with and build mutually
respectful partnerships. But as a university
you cannot take on high quality
community engagement without being
a high quality institution. Learning,
teaching and research endeavours have
to be of a high quality or what exactly are
you going to partner with communities
around? Communities deserve only the
best and require knowledge, expertise,
and long-term durable partnerships.
Badat also warns that the University has
to engage with the community in which
it is embedded, for its own survival.
"We are 17 years into our democracy and
certain very fundamental and structural
things have not changed in Grahamstown.
There must be a deep understanding in
the University that our future is
inextricably tied in with this town. We
must support the town and engage with
it as far as socio-economic opportunities
are concerned and around a whole lot of
practical issues such as (municipal)
services."
The University is also forging long-term
relationships with rural schools in the
region, hoping to identify and cultivate
talent early on.
"This must not be a democracy that
benefits only the rich. We need to give
ordinary people an opportunity to share
in our democracy and have their children
come to university too," and this is where
the Jakes Gerwel Bursary Fund comes into
play.
Perhaps idealistically, Badat believes that
humans are not driven by selfish, envious,
crass materialistic natures but rather find
fulfilment in service to humanity. "That's
why you exist on this earth - to create a
better society in which everyone's intellect
can flower ... instead of just wallowing in
survival where they have to worry about
where their next meal is coming from."

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courage
respect
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"Service Learning is a pedagogical tool which is used within a course.
It is a not a course in itself."
Championing the cause of
service learning
07
With this statement Mandy Hlengwa,
Lecturer at the Centre for Education,
Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL)
sheds light on one of the forms of
community engagement practiced at
Rhodes University, and other South African
academic institutions. Hlengwa joined
CHERTL in 2007, and while people might
associate Hlengwa's arrival with the start
of the Service Learning enterprise, she very
firmly sets them right. The portfolio existed
before she arrived at CHERTL. However, it
was a good fit with her interests and there
can be no denying that she brings a
vibrancy, under-laid by extensive theoretical
knowledge, to the role.
Service Learning is a relatively new teaching
tool in South Africa. Hlengwa's role is to
liaise with academics to strengthen
current service learning initiatives or,
where necessary, to assist the CE Office
to help academics and/or community
partners find each other and set up the
partnership through which Service
Learning takes place. There are certain
factors which have to co-exist before a
programme can truly be said to fall under
the Service Learning mantle. Certainly
while Service Learning projects all involve
an element of community engagement,
it is not true to say all community
engagement projects are vehicles for
Service Learning.
Hlengwa explains that Service Learning
needs to have what she refers to as a
'curriculum angle'. It is essential that it is
an outcome within the students' course,
which means, naturally, that it is creditbearing.
Then there needs to be a
reciprocal goal between, on the one hand
the students, the relevant Department
and the University and, on the other hand,
the community organisation or site which
will be working in partnership with them.
Hlengwa admits that this is not always
easy to achieve, particularly in the first
instance of collaboration. But as
confidence grows on both sides, the
service learning relationship will start to
bear fruit. Ideally the students will go out
into the community and, through
interacting with people, will discover just
how applicable, or otherwise, their
academic knowledge is in real-life
situations.
It is at this point that the third aspect
required to fulfil the philosophical ideal
of Service Learning comes into play.
Through the medium of reflection (as in
a journal or online blog) the information
gathered by the students will be
transferred back to the lecturer and the
Departments concerned, and can be used
as a resource for reworking academic
content to better reflect actual conditions
in the world beyond the university walls.